The key to solving interethnic problems in Russia
Russia's Medvedev, Putin clash over Soviet model
Media reports out of Moscow Tuesday indicated that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was at odds with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a State Council meeting Monday over the issue of xenophobia and rising nationalism in the country.
Medvedev, who chaired the meeting, changed the agenda suddenly from maternity issues to solutions to the mounting problem of racial hate crimes, according to the RIA-Novosti News Agency.
Medvedev said Russia couldn't repeat the ethics policies that had been adopted during the Soviet period, given the fact that the Soviet Union was a country "based on ideology," unlike modern Russia.
Putin, however, stressed that there were no such interethnic clashes in the Soviet Union.
"Soviet authorities were able to create a concept that was above interethnic and inter-confessional relations. … We say 'Russians' and 'Russian nation,' but it is still not on track," Putin was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying.
On December 11, 5,000 nationalists and soccer hooligans clashed with police in central Moscow, causing the biggest public disturbance in the capital for 10 years, according to RIA-Novosti. That was followed by a further disturbance four days later, with ethnic Russians and internal migrants facing off near a main train terminal.
Xia Yishan, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times that the key to solving interethnic problems in Russia is developing the domestic economy, not cultivating "all-Russian patriotism," as Putin put it.
"It is true for Putin to say that various ethnic groups' ties were close during the Soviet period, but it is also true that the Soviet model is not suitable for Russia, as Medvedev mentioned," Xia said. "The xenophobia is actually rooted in the loss of ethnocentrism in Russia from when the Soviet Union superpower collapsed."
As for the disagreement between the two Russian leaders, he said it was just a common exchange, but it could also be to distract public attention from the guilty verdict against former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Medvedev also Monday opposed the formations of "Chinatowns" in the country, RIA-Novosti reported.
"Our country is on the move. There will certainly be new construction, but we will not form Chinatowns on purpose in Russia," he said. "We cannot block the movement of people within our country, but we must know what is going on."
Xia, as an expert on Russia who lived there for years, has also seen a change in the way Russians treat Chinese people.
"They used to be very friendly in the Soviet period," he recalled. "However, they felt threatened by the Chinese after the breakup of the Soviet Union during the recession in Russia."
By Li Ying
Agencies contributed to this story
source: Global Times / Taiwan Channel
Media reports out of Moscow Tuesday indicated that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was at odds with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a State Council meeting Monday over the issue of xenophobia and rising nationalism in the country.
Medvedev, who chaired the meeting, changed the agenda suddenly from maternity issues to solutions to the mounting problem of racial hate crimes, according to the RIA-Novosti News Agency.
Medvedev said Russia couldn't repeat the ethics policies that had been adopted during the Soviet period, given the fact that the Soviet Union was a country "based on ideology," unlike modern Russia.
Putin, however, stressed that there were no such interethnic clashes in the Soviet Union.
"Soviet authorities were able to create a concept that was above interethnic and inter-confessional relations. … We say 'Russians' and 'Russian nation,' but it is still not on track," Putin was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying.
On December 11, 5,000 nationalists and soccer hooligans clashed with police in central Moscow, causing the biggest public disturbance in the capital for 10 years, according to RIA-Novosti. That was followed by a further disturbance four days later, with ethnic Russians and internal migrants facing off near a main train terminal.
Xia Yishan, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times that the key to solving interethnic problems in Russia is developing the domestic economy, not cultivating "all-Russian patriotism," as Putin put it.
"It is true for Putin to say that various ethnic groups' ties were close during the Soviet period, but it is also true that the Soviet model is not suitable for Russia, as Medvedev mentioned," Xia said. "The xenophobia is actually rooted in the loss of ethnocentrism in Russia from when the Soviet Union superpower collapsed."
As for the disagreement between the two Russian leaders, he said it was just a common exchange, but it could also be to distract public attention from the guilty verdict against former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Medvedev also Monday opposed the formations of "Chinatowns" in the country, RIA-Novosti reported.
"Our country is on the move. There will certainly be new construction, but we will not form Chinatowns on purpose in Russia," he said. "We cannot block the movement of people within our country, but we must know what is going on."
Xia, as an expert on Russia who lived there for years, has also seen a change in the way Russians treat Chinese people.
"They used to be very friendly in the Soviet period," he recalled. "However, they felt threatened by the Chinese after the breakup of the Soviet Union during the recession in Russia."
By Li Ying
Agencies contributed to this story
source: Global Times / Taiwan Channel
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